1965 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1965 FABL Lineups Here!
In a bit of trivia that’s immaterial to Fantasy Astrology Baseball, 1965 was the year of the first amateur player draft. The first ever player chosen was Rick Monday, a Scorpio who would amass 19,482 fantasy points in his 19-year MLB career. The draft undoubtedly affected the fortunes of the players in the Fantasy Astrology League, by determining their first real-life teams, and thus many of the opportunities they would receive throughout their careers. But since players are assigned to their astrology teams at birth, their signs have more significance than the whims of certain scouts and front office executives.
As for the season that took place in 1965, Leo was the team to beat, but not because of the players you might expect. Carl Yastrzemski (1,927 / 14.5) and Roberto Clemente (1,881 / 12.4) had down years, at least by their lofty Hall of Fame standards. So it was another pair of outfielders, Vada Pinson (2,328 / 14.6) and Rocky Colavito (2,184 / 13.5), who carried the offense. Colavito led the real-life American League in RBI and walks, while batting cleanup in all 162 games for Cleveland. Pinson played a big part in the city of Oakland’s post-great migration history, as he attended the same high school as Virgo Frank Robinson (2,465 / 15.8) and Capricorn Curt Flood (1,917 / 12.3).
On the pitching side, Don Drysdale (3,165 / 71.9) was the Lions’ ace, although he and sign-mate Claude Osteen (2,471 / 61.8) were just the number 2 and 3 starters for the real-life World Series champion Dodgers. Jim “Mudcat” Grant (2,451 / 59.8) starred for LA’s Fall Classic opponents (the Twins), while Tony Cloninger (2,553 / 63.8) led the Braves during their last year in Milwaukee. Hoyt Wilhelm (2,323 / 35.2) was the top reliever in the Positive Polarity, but he finished second in fantasy points on his own real-life White Sox team to Eddie Fisher (2,570 / 31.3) of the Cancer Crabs.
Libra finished number two in the league in fantasy points, thanks to the top two pitchers in the Positive Pole: Juan Marichal (3,595 / 92.2) and Jim Bunning (3,189 / 81.8). But the parade of aces doesn’t stop there: they also have maybe the top Yankees all-time starter Whitey Ford (2,131 / 57.6) and former Phillies legend Robin Roberts (1,721 / 57.4) in each of their last years of fantasy astrology relevance. Their offense was anchored by not one, but FOUR primary leadoff hitters: Maury Wills (2,072 / 13.1), who helped run the Dodgers to the World Series with 94 stolen bases, Tommy Harper (2,167 / 13.6) for the Reds, Positive Rookie of the Year Jose Cardenal (1,435 / 10.7), and Bob Bailey (1,496 / 9.4), who finished well behind Braves legend Eddie Mathews (1,850 / 11.9) on the third base depth chart.
When it comes to the Water Division, Cancer usually has a great offense and Scorpio usually has great pitching. But in 1965, Pisces had enough of each to come out on top. The Fish lineup was anchored by Astros center fielder Jim Wynn (2,267 / 14.4) and a pair of third basemen: Ron Santo (2,240 / 13.7) and Dick Allen (2,200 / 13.7), plus Allen’s Phillies teammate Johnny Callison (2,177 / 13.6). On the mound, Pirates ace Vern Law (2,333 / 80.4) was still going strong at age 35, and Ted Abernathy (2,082 / 24.8) was a top-shelf closer, even before MLB had an official stat (saves) to measure such things.
We have a disputed winner of the Earth Division, and it all comes down to my controversial decision to place left fielder Rico Carty (840 / 10.1) at catcher, based on the 17 games he would spend behind the plate in 1966. My other positional eligibility cheat – putting outfielder Tom Tresh (1,966 / 12.6) at shortstop – is perfectly defensible, considering the versatile Yankee had 350 career games there. In addition to the above-mentioned Frank Robinson and the number two Negative starting pitcher Sam McDowell (3,325 / 79.2), the Virgo attack was fueled by youngsters: second baseman Joe Morgan (1,886 / 12.0) and pitcher Marcelino Lopez (1,816 / 51.9) were the top two rookies in the sport, with closer Frank Linzy (1,530 / 26.8) also eclipsing rookie eligibility in 1965.
If we follow positional eligibility rules to the letter, however, the top Earth Sign is Capricorn, a team that stood squarely on the shoulders of left-handed pitcher Sandy Koufax. As much as I gushed about Koufax’s 4,000-point performance in 1966, his 1965 season was unlike anything we’ve seen since: 4,706 points, with an AVERAGE score of 109.4 points per game. Denny McLain would win 30 games in 1968, but Koufax outscored him by more than 200 points, with 335 innings, 382 strikeouts, an 0.855 WHIP, and 27 complete games, all career-bests. But even with a solid SP2 in Sonny Siebert (2,358 / 60.5), a lights-out closer in Stu Miller (2,292 / 34.2), and a lineup led by slugging first baseman in Willie McCovey (2,115 / 13.2), the Goats finished behind the Flowers in my official standings.